Google chief executive Eric Schmidt has offered to help Yahoo! avoid being taken over by Microsoft through a proposed partnership, according to reports.The search engine boss phoned Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang and put forward plans to work together to ward off the hostile $44.6 billion bid, which was made last week.
Mr Yang has not yet responded to the offer, but any partnership between the two parties could involve Yahoo! outsourcing its advertising and search services to Google, according to the Guardian.
The newspaper also states that Google has contacted a number of possible alternative bidders, such as AOL Time Warner, in an attempt to stave off Microsoft's takeover proposal.
AT&T and Comcast could also be contenders for bids, although News Corporation, which owns MySpace, has confirmed it is not going to enter the bidding ring.
On Sunday, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith made a statement suggesting that a successful takeover of Yahoo! would result in the creation of "a compelling number two competitor for internet search and online advertising".
However, a post by Google chief legal officer David Drummond on the company's official blog argued that Microsoft's bid had given rise to some "troubling questions", specifically over whether the Redmond-based firm is attempting "to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the internet that it did with the PC".
In response to Microsoft's bid, Yahoo! said that its board intended to review the proposal thoroughly and examine all of the possible alternatives to being taken over.
